Red sea berlin classic. Good or bad?

Swedish viking · #1 10/15/2003, 02:15 PM

Are the red sea berlin classic a good skimmer or is it crap?. I have a 190 gallon tank.

DJ88© · #2 10/15/2003, 02:20 PM

On a small tank ie less than 40 gallons they are ok.

on anything bigger IME.. crap.

Playfair · #3 10/15/2003, 02:25 PM

I use one on my 120 with a Mag9 pump and it's "marginal"... Definitely wouldn't on anything larger. Perhaps the X-large version would be OK with the same pump if you want to be cheap

Swedish viking · #4 10/15/2003, 03:00 PM

Ok. Thanx for the advice. I will search for a better skimmer

clsund · #5 10/15/2003, 03:11 PM

DJ, I was just wondering why the different assessments of the Berlin for different sized tanks? Just curious what is the reasoning behind your opinion? Thanks.

DJ88© · #6 10/15/2003, 03:39 PM

On a larger tank with a high bioload it can't keep up. I have seen one with a MAG7 on a 100 gallon tank high load and it was NOT able to keep up. Once a skimmer was placed on it that was capable of handling the load the tanks algae and cyano problems disappeared. Tank parameters(Am, Ni, Na all dropped to zero).

I am running one right now on a 33 and it barely keeps up. If I don't clean it every two days or so I see cyano start appearing. clean it, it goes away.

Until I can build a bigger venturi skimmer I am stuck with it tho.

I have run all kinds of skimmers up to a Bullet 3. this is by far the worst. Well the sea clone was right down there too.

As an aside I have done a few mods to my berlin(MAG9.5, Kent venturi) and it is a little better than it was before. Still not near enough for what I need.